Everyone Please

large / SOLD

48x60in Oil on Archival-Quality Natural Cotton

A friend that was bitter with me, sent me an email. In it, she basically told me she was going to try and slander my name (because she knows my love of people and something like that would hurt my heart). I spoke to a few mutual friends about what I should do. One said, “Fu** that Bit$#, get on Facebook and tell everyone about all the Fu*^ A$$ Bull-Sh%& she’s trying to pull”. Lol, that’s my gangsta friend. I also asked an older friend and they said, in all their wisdom, “Genesis, what did you tell me when I was going through my thing 2 years ago?” in which I searched my mind, remembering with a smile, “dogs only bark at moving cars.” He smiled back at me and said, “you’re moving….take your own advice, if you kick at every barking dog while you move through this exciting time in your life, you’ll never make it down the street. Return hate with love young brotha and keep on moving. You know this.”Sometimes, we simply need others to give us permission, in some small way, to do the thing we already knew to be right. After that conversation, I went for a walk, and wrote this poem.After returning all negativity that came my way with love, after just a couple months, that bitter friend ran out of energy and people stopped listening. There’s way more power in love and rooting for someone, than trying to return hate for hate.